Durant was seen leaving Mosaic Stadium on crutches midway through the fourth quarter with a protective boot on his left foot. The team later announced that he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon and will miss the rest of the season.

Saskatchewan fans and Durant's teammates watched the star quarterback get carted off the field with 37 seconds remaining in the second quarter trailing 15-14. Durant wasn't touched on the play - an incomplete pass attempt to Jamel Richardson. It appeared as though Durant landed awkwardly on his left foot after he released the pass.

Chamblin said Durant couldn't put any pressure on the injured foot.

"It's really tough to see that happen. I talk to Darian all the time and he's like an older brother to me,'' said Bombers quarterback Drew Willy, a former backup behind Durant. "Darian took me under his wing when I first came up here, so to see him go down is really hard for me.''

Willy carved up the Roughriders defence, especially in the second half. He connected with slotback Nick Moore, who made a sliding catch on an 18-yard touchdown strike, one that put Winnipeg ahead with seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Willy finished the day 22-for-25 passing for 325 yards and three touchdowns. He hooked up with Cameron Marshall on a 14-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, and after Marshall added the two-point convert, the game was tied at 23-23.

Chris Milo then booted a 19-yard field goal to put Saskatchewan ahead 26-23 before Willy engineered a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive that was capped with Moore's touchdown.

"Drew was just being Drew. That's nothing new to us,'' Moore said. "We see him do that stuff every day at practice. Everybody stepped up big, the O-line, our running game, Drew was lights out. That's all you can ask for.''

Jerome Messam took a handoff from Glenn and rumbled 53 yards for a go-ahead touchdown that gave the Riders a 20-15 lead to start the second half. Chris Getzlaf caught a two-point convert from Glenn.

"I've experienced it two years in a row in Calgary and last year in B.C.,'' Glenn said of being pushed into the starter's role. "I'm always prepared as if I'm going to play. I was coached that way when I first came into the league. I've tried to implement that over the course of my career.

"It's one of those things where you never want to wish anything bad on anybody, but you're still a competitor. When it comes down to your time to play, you want to go out and help the team win.''

Durant tore a tendon in his right throwing elbow in Week 11 last season - also against Winnipeg - and missed the remainder of the regular season and the West semifinal.

Durant looked sharp on Saturday before the injury. He completed 13-of-18 pass attempts for 165 yards and two touchdowns including one to Taj Smith that covered 36 yards and one to Ryan Smith for 53 yards.

Glenn finished the day 13-for-18 for 120 yards and one interception.

Paris Cotton rushed 13 times for 108 yards to lead the Bombers. He added four receptions for 59 yards and one touchdown.

(Canadian Press/Craig Slater)

------

POSTGAME COMMENTS:

WPG LB SAM HURL

- This feels amazing. It was a grind of a game. Both sides battled hard and we came out on top. We've got a lot to clean up, me personally too, but it's a good start. We're not gonna put a label on us. We just grind and hope to keep it going.

SK DE ALEX HALL

- It sucks. For real. It just really sucks. We didn't execute. A lot of fundamental mistakes. Winnipeg did a good job capitalizing on our mistakes and doing what they're supposed to do. Willy isn't really a runner but he's got good pocket elusiveness. It was a lot of YAC yards, stuff that we can clean up and stuff that we've been practicing that shouldn't have happened like that.

- Everybody, from Doubles to everybody on our team, I've never seen so many guys get injured. I feel so bad for them. They've worked so hard and my heart goes out to those guys.

SK REC/PR RYAN SMITH

- We had a lot of injuries and that's never a good thing. We have a great team here and we'll rally back next week and come out with that 'W' hopefully.

- Anytime you see a player like (Durant) go out, I kind of lost my breath. You gotta bounce back. We rallied around K.G. and he's been a great player for a long time. We're excited to play for and with him.

SK HEAD COACH COREY CHAMBLIN

- It's a blow to see that calibre of a player (Durant) go down. It's always a blow. Darian's a team leader. I don't want to see anybody get hurt. Not just Darian. Four or five guys went down and we have to get them healthy.

- It's (depth) getting tested. It's gonna be a long night with meetings and see where we go from here. We'll have to bring some guys back in. It'll be a test within itself setting the roster plus there are some other things we have to fix.

- Emry was down, Demski was down, MacDougall was down, and Marshay Green. Hell, everybody but me almost. That was tough. The toughest part is they worked their tails off all camp to get in shape and then a bug bites us all at one time. There's no amount of prep you can do for that.

- It was poor tackling . We're a better tackling team, or we will be, than we were tonight. The offense had their trials but they had their success too. Special teams had some troubles.

- It was 30-26 but we still had a chance. If we can correct those things, we'll be back in the swing of it.

- It was an unusual game for us. We had to make adjustments. We had the right mindset coming out of camp and no one thought we'd lose that game.

offence no problem, but our defence looks like the ti cats defence in 2011, when they finished seventh in the league, and who was there D C the same D CF we have Corey Chamblin, with Corry calling D C signals, we need to put a lot of points on the board

Corey chaimblins Defence sucks. I know it's early but holy.. where was Alex hall???invisible no run d.. we had something going on offence with the run then sorry to say got out coached as time went into the 4th .. injury is no excuse.my opinion. . I'll be drinkin my sorrow beers guys.. get em next week!! Go Riders!

Alex hall carteries game star .. wow.. watched on TV didn't hear his name mentioned once so I guess more knowledgeable people saw allot more than I did.. the view was pretty tainted defensively .. sorry Alex

……..and nobody seen this coming? The Riders gave up over 30 points in each of the two exhibition games. Again 30 points tonight. Outside of Emery(now hurt) BT didn't do one freakin thing to make this overrated bunch a better defence. Tackling, pursuit, contain, pressure and coverage was nothing short of abysmal. And our D is our strong suit? Not big enough nor mean enough.

…….our Offensive line was well pretty offensive. Dan Clark was eaten up all night. This is the best Canadian talent we can assemble? And now what little we do have is injured.

….there is much wrong with this team on both sides of the ball. Now Kevin Glenn who has never really won anything is going to be asked to win for this team. Starting with the O-line and receivers there will need to be a lot better showing than last year, or this team is in big trouble already.

Chicken little and his band of goofballs have been waiting all winter for this.....yikes Not happy unless they can be critical and use hind sight to show how much smarter they are then our coaches and management.

Darian was living the dream, all set to have a very productive year. He got great protection from his O-Line - no sacks tonight. His freak injury can only be described as going from a dream scenario to a nightmare. I feel very sick about the whole thing.

Last year when DD went down, they gave the ball to Sunseri and the team tanked. At least they have a backup with some experience and leadership. He won't be enough and they now have to stand in line to try and find another QB.

The defence which wasn't good last year, not good in pre-season and not good tonight is a huge problem. With a lights out defence they could perhaps get by with mediocre QB'ing. When you score 26 but give up 30, you lose every time. Big problem. The Ti-Cats have the best Canadian talent in the league and will probably be in the GC game again this year. Getting and stockpiling Canadian talent has never been a strong suit of BT. It shows. Combined with this incessant recycling of has been players leaves a lot of us cold.

Except for those drinking green kool-aid and looking through the green lens of foolishness, everyone else sees the trouble this team is now in.

Well I seem to remember all the clowns saying we didn't need Rickey Foley and that Shea Emery was the big hole filler. We couldn't tackle, couldn't get any rush from the end spot, couldn't get to Willy, I heard all week how he couldn't run and he was basically a sitting duck. Also how our d was so strong and the opposition would have a hard time scoring more than 20 against us. Something about taking the Bombers lightly. Calling Jordan Yantz, cmon down. To the person who said BT didn't do a darn thing,, yup that's right, that's how he managed the Bummers. We got the Riders version of Alex Hall back, not the sack attack Hall.

WOW... JSUT WOW... I GUESS DURANT IS GONNA BE OUT... I HOPE THAT THE STAFF AT THE STADIUM CAN FIGURE OUT HOW TO SERVE A COLD DRINK... THE WARM ONES TODAY WERE NOT TOO INSPIRING... AND IT SOUNDS LIKE WE MIGHT NEED A FEW DRINKS TO GET THROUGH THIS SEASON.

The offense put up a tad less than 500 yards: great work by the O-line, running game should be fine, good pass protection, and the receiving core will only get better when Dressler returns.

Hopefully Brakenridge is back soon. T. Clark had 10 tackles and is off to a good start as a rookie. A better performance by the D in evading blocks and tackling, our field goal kicker making the easy one and we would of had a victory. But sad to say, were are not going to win every game. With QB's getting hurt this year, you never know, maybe Winnipeg will have a shot at being in the Cup. Anybody but Calgary would be fine by me.

I wish the best for Durant. But he reality is, we may never see him play again. His loss, our awful defence, and no depth on this team means we'll be 6-12 at best. Thanks Taman for recying this team with old players nobody wants. You can't win on Tillman's and Shivers Recruits forever!!

We'll Mr. Chamblin you don't have Richie Hall to blame for that brutal display on defence. It's all on you buddy! And for the all the people who couldn't understand why we signed Glenn well now you know. All the best to Darian in your road to recovery!

Now we find out what kind of GM Brenden Tamen is... Durant is the product of Roy Shivers, Willy the product of Danny Barrett...All he has done is recycled Glenn at QB....I know QBs are hard to find...but he hasn't brought anything substantial to the QB table ever....get to work buddy.

It's amusing to read "we were close, we need to clean up some things, we had a shot" Those are the comments of losers. The team played awful both and without DD. Our vaunted defence looked more like our vomitted defence. Like someone said no whipping boy to blame for the on field defensive product. Last year was because they were on the field all game. This year they're just bad. Loss of Foley is HUGE.

Freaky tragic injury to DD but it's where most good team' depth is exposed. Man is ours ever exposed. Glenn wasn't brought in here to be our #1 QB and win a GC for us. Chamblin said as much. Glenn was brought in as a back-up to get that point straight. He is a good back-up but has never led a team to a GC and likely never will. Las Vegas would give you odds on that ever happening. Once again depth will tank us. We are fortunate tat BT wasn't caught the way he was let year.

The the braniac who listed a bunch of named, get your facts straight. Your wrong. Labatte was a free agent. Most of the others can be attributed elsewhere. Check it out.

One game in multiple injuries and the goof balls sound off as if the world was ending . This is a good football team . So, big deal they lost a game. Glenn will do well enough as long as our receivers and running backs play well and our tackling improves . A couple of breaks and we could have won last night. We will recover and will get right back into the thick of things before you know it.

Been a Rider fan for 50 years. Felt the team WAS our QB with Ronnie and with DD. Both smart and both with talent but not the most talent. Where both stand out is what personifies this province. Guts, determination, work ethic, never quit, loyal, and when the chips are down watch out! They just never quit ... the game ... the team ... the province ... and the fans. The fans who constantly dump on them and call for the backup. We have had other good QBs of course, and maybe more talented, But none come close to these two in having those traits some of us old folks still value.

But forgot those old fashioned Saskie values ... use modern 'winning is the only thing'. Darian has been our starter for 5 FULL years. Three GC appearances ... and a GC victory at home in Taylor Field! So what do 90% of fans comment on here? If you are in too good a mood just read them. (Feel like asking some if they even walk backwards)

Darian ... you are a true Saskatchewan hero and an inspiration to this province. Happy to have my grandkids learn from your values. We feel your pain but we know you will use that determination of yours and be back to give even more to this province.

Mr. Lyle Pedersen well thought out and accurate comments. The mouth breathers that call themselves Rider fans are comical. Richie Hall was the most recent whipping boy that was run out of Saskatchewan. Now the attention has turned to Chamblin and Taman. Why anyone would want to come to Saskatchewan and subject themselves to this abuse is beyond me. Hopefully Darian makes a full recovery, he can look to his teammate Rob Bagg for inspiration on dealing with serious potentially career ending injury.

Lyle Pedersen, you are so right. You have said it all, my good man.To Darian (and the rest of the injured) I wish you all a speedy recovery. Time for this team from the top down to dig deep as I know they will. We are 1 game in, a bit to early to fold the tent so Lets GO RIDERS!!!Dave in Medicine Hat.

No playoff this year.The defence will improve for TO but the offence and special teams will take a step back. Expect more long punt returns, a leaky offensive line, uninspired running , and dropped passes. Chamblin will be impressed by the effort of his D as they will play close to 40 minutes but that will be a deflection 35 to 12 Toronto. Coops will be bringing back the paper bags for the fans

Mr Lyle Pedersen glosses over a lot with this false bravado of Saskatchewan tough bs..blah blah. In the 70 we won a lot except when it mattered. The 80 were the same until a .500 team got hot and won a GC. 23 years between GC wins and not a lot of great football. Another 15 years of horrible football until 2006 when Tillman came in a brought winning back by 2007. It still took 18 years since the last win. With what Tillman and Miller did here we were able to add enough to win a GC at home. Last season when DD went down we folded. What will we do now?

Durant may or may not ever make it back to his old form. That's reality! Glenn is a good backup but really that's all he is. The truth is we need to try and make a splash if we can. Maybe we should pursue a real starter and find someone young we can develop. I have to believe Ricky Ray could be had. He will be back this season. If Glenn should go down as he has in the past, will it be season 2014 2.0?

Poor execution and performance is totally unacceptable. Coach Chamblin needs to look at every aspect of his club and actually change what needs to be changed. Missed FG's, poor kicking game, poor defensive effort are some things that need to be fixed. Milo isn't getting it done. You can't leave easy points on the field. I think much can be repaired by the coach. The GM will need to shore up his QBing not only for this season but perhaps will an eye to long therm.

"With what Tillman and Miller did here we were able to add enough to win a GC at home. Last season when DD went down we folded. What will we do now?"

Ahhh ...... Tillman let this team go to sh#t in 2011 and Taman and CC had to re-build from the ashes. Tillman is probably the worst GM and drafting in the Canadian College draft. Just no canadian depth at all.

Taman and CC were able to build us back up and had to add some vets to win the '13 Cup. They are still working on the depth just like every other team.

Hey, only Calgary and Hamilton have the Canadian depth to with-stand injuries. One of the things both these teams did was take a couple chances on drafting players that were going to the NFL. It has panned out for them.